Blue Origin achieved a milestone by successfully landing and reusing the first stage of its New Glenn rocket for the third flight, but the upper stage failed to place its payload into the correct orbit. The launch occurred Sunday from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The booster, named Never Tell Me The Odds, touched down on a ship in the Atlantic Ocean after its second flight.
The New Glenn rocket lifted off at 7:25 a.m. EDT (11:25 UTC) from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Powered by seven methane-fueled BE-4 engines, the 321-foot-tall vehicle separated its first stage three minutes into the flight. The booster then executed braking burns and landed precisely on Blue Origin's ocean platform nearly 400 miles southeast of the launch site less than 10 minutes after liftoff. This marked the second flight for Never Tell Me The Odds, which debuted in November, with new engines installed for this mission. Blue Origin CEO Dave Limp said the company intends to reuse those engines from the prior launch on future flights. Blue Origin confirmed payload separation but noted the AST SpaceMobile satellite, BlueBird 7, was placed into an off-nominal orbit. AST SpaceMobile stated the orbit was too low to sustain operations, and the roughly six-ton spacecraft will be de-orbited, with costs recovered via insurance. US Space Force tracking data showed a perigee of just 95 miles (154 km), far below the targeted 285 miles (460 km) at 49-degree inclination. The upper stage, powered by two BE-3U engines, had succeeded on the first two New Glenn flights in January and November 2025. This setback follows recent upper stage issues for other rockets like SpaceX's Starship and Falcon 9. Blue Origin aims for faster launch rates through booster reuse to compete with SpaceX.
